Sex Pistols vocalist, drummer and bassist Sid Vicious was controversial enough because of his involvement in the 1970s punk scene - but he gained even greater notoriety for the arrest and murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. Having achieved success with the band's debut album "Never Mind the B*****ks, Here's the Sex Pistols" - with songs such as "Anarchy In The UK" - Vicious became addicted to drugs, as did his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. The pair would exchange drugs, help each other to consume narcotics and basically lead one another along a path of self-destruction - which finally came to a head on October 11, 1978. Vicious claimed the following morning that he awoke from a drugged stupor to find Spungen dead on the bathroom floor in their room in the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan. Spungen had suffered a stab wound to her abdomen and bled to death - and the knife used had been bought by Vicious on 42nd Street in New York City. He was arrested and charged with Spungen's murder, changing his story on many occasions after being charged. First of all he said "I stabbed her, but I never meant to kill her", then he claimed he did not remember, before saying Spungen fell on the knife during an argument. Vicious tried to commit suicide by slitting his wrists with a smashed light bulb 10 days after Spungen's, and then he attempted to jump out of a hospital window. Vicious struggled for the next few months, and he died of an overdose on heroine in February 1979, after being supplied with the drug by his own mother. He may have committed suicide, as he had said he "wanted to be with Nancy", although this has never been determined.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
